Un-author-ized
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nosferatu
About ten years after Bram Stoker’s death in 1912, his wife Florence was left to manage his estate, holding on tightly to Dracula’s literary rights. It was with the assistance of the Society of Authors that Mrs. Stoker was able to initially stand her ground against the German film Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror. Prana-Film's produced an unauthorized adaptation of Stoker’s Dracula that was released in March of 1922. Although the filmmakers were praised for their use of natural settings (compared to a manufactured one) and well received by the public, Mrs. Stoker was not amused. Although she authorized the sale of translation rights to Germany, Society of Authors clarified that this did not extend to German film rights. It wasn’t until July of 1925, after the filmmaker’s repeated appeals of the July 1924 decision in Stoker’s favor, that the negatives of Nosferatu were ordered to be destroyed.
Unfortunately for Mrs. Stoker, proof of it's destruction was not necessary for the German courts. Coincidently later that year, the London Film Society invited Mrs. Stoker to a screening of Dracula by F.W. Murnau – the director of Nosferatu was now claiming authorship of Dracula after being accused by the courts of stealing it. Clearly Mrs. Stoker was unsuccessful in extinguishing Nosferatu from the film world as we are still able to access it through almost any form of technology available today.
Unfortunately for Mrs. Stoker, proof of it's destruction was not necessary for the German courts. Coincidently later that year, the London Film Society invited Mrs. Stoker to a screening of Dracula by F.W. Murnau – the director of Nosferatu was now claiming authorship of Dracula after being accused by the courts of stealing it. Clearly Mrs. Stoker was unsuccessful in extinguishing Nosferatu from the film world as we are still able to access it through almost any form of technology available today.
All the World's a stage
www.braminvitam.co.uk
Hamilton Deane, a former actor, was the first to obtain creative license from the Stoker Estate to bring Dracula to life on stage in 1925. It was a challenging task considering the screenplay would have to transform a novel written as diary entries and letters to a cohesive play those in attendence could understand. Deane's timing was perfect as Bram Stoker's widow was going through legal battles for copyright infringement with a German film company for their unlicensed adaptation with Nosferatu. She gave Hamilton Deane Company full reign with the storyline because he convinced Mrs. Stoker that he understood the novel's dynamic and how to bring the characters to life, relatively speaking. His enthusiam for the play was clear as he was able to provide a workable script within four weeks having been new to scriptwriting. Deane took quite a few liberties with the characters that Stoker had painstakingly developed such as making the male role of Quincey Morris into female simply to offer a third role for women in his production company.
Deane was prepared to hear the lambasting from critics, but he was not expecting that his production would pack the playhouse. After five months of production, Deane was ready to return to his previous repertory tour, however Harry Warburton, a financial backer of the play, wanted to continue with Dracula. So without Deane’s knowledge, Warburton met with Mrs. Stoker to discuss the play. David Skal, author of Hollywood Gothic: The Tangled Web of
Dracula from Novel to Stage to Screen writes:
Unbeknownst to Deane, Warburton struck a deal with Mrs. Stoker to simply continue running the play without regard to Deane. Dracula was Mrs. Stoker’s property, after all, wasn’t it? Now it was Hamilton Deane’s turn to approach…the Society of Authors with a complaint over the infringement of his own rights in Dracula.
A compromise was eventually reached that allowed Deane to continue, however, Mrs. Stoker was fed up with Deane as it was HER husband’s book, she had the authority, right? She hired a new playwright and ensured she had exclusive rights to his adaption, but he proved to be unskilled in scriptwriting the book’s transition into an acceptable play. The London censors were offended by his version by the end of production, practically eliminating entire scenes from the play. Stoker was forced to admit that her play would not be successful without Deane Hamilton’s involvement.
Deane was prepared to hear the lambasting from critics, but he was not expecting that his production would pack the playhouse. After five months of production, Deane was ready to return to his previous repertory tour, however Harry Warburton, a financial backer of the play, wanted to continue with Dracula. So without Deane’s knowledge, Warburton met with Mrs. Stoker to discuss the play. David Skal, author of Hollywood Gothic: The Tangled Web of
Dracula from Novel to Stage to Screen writes:
Unbeknownst to Deane, Warburton struck a deal with Mrs. Stoker to simply continue running the play without regard to Deane. Dracula was Mrs. Stoker’s property, after all, wasn’t it? Now it was Hamilton Deane’s turn to approach…the Society of Authors with a complaint over the infringement of his own rights in Dracula.
A compromise was eventually reached that allowed Deane to continue, however, Mrs. Stoker was fed up with Deane as it was HER husband’s book, she had the authority, right? She hired a new playwright and ensured she had exclusive rights to his adaption, but he proved to be unskilled in scriptwriting the book’s transition into an acceptable play. The London censors were offended by his version by the end of production, practically eliminating entire scenes from the play. Stoker was forced to admit that her play would not be successful without Deane Hamilton’s involvement.
film adaptation
www.draculas.info
With the success of Dracula on stage in England, it wasn't too long before it became a transatlantic success in America. It was American publisher Horace Liveright's foresight that introduced the Count to Broadway. It eventually made it to Hollywood and Universal was the first to take on the project. They hired screenwriter Garret Fort who adapted the script from both Bram Stoker's novel and Hamilton Deane's play. This is an instance where Robert Stam, co-author of Literature and Film: A Guide to the Theory and Practice of Film Adaptation believes that "Film adaptations...are caught up in the ongoing whirl of intertextual reference and transformation, of texts generating other texts in an endless process of recycling, transformations, and transmutation, with no clear point of origin." There are many mentionings to Stoker's novel within the reviews and references behind the scenes, however there is no clarity as to the original authorship given until the 1992 film titled Bram Stoker's Draculawas released by Columbia Pictures. Bram Stoker is explicity given credit as the film's writer alongside screenwriter James Hart. And in the continuation of the concept of authorship, one can go further to designate the title to film's producer, director, actors, costume designers, editors and many others who can walk away from any film calling it their own.
Sources/Links
Skal, David J. Hollywood Gothic: The Tangled Web of Dracula from Novel to Stage to Screen. W.W. Norton. New York, NY. 1990. Print.
Stam, Robert, and Alessandra Raengo. Literature and Film: A Guide to the Theory and Practice of Film Adaptation. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2005. Print
http://www.bramstokerestate.com
http://www.londonfilmsociety.org.uk/
http://youtu.be/PlDbxogHPao
http://www.draculas.info/literature/bram_stoker_dracula/
Skal, David J. Hollywood Gothic: The Tangled Web of Dracula from Novel to Stage to Screen. W.W. Norton. New York, NY. 1990. Print.
Stam, Robert, and Alessandra Raengo. Literature and Film: A Guide to the Theory and Practice of Film Adaptation. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2005. Print
http://www.bramstokerestate.com
http://www.londonfilmsociety.org.uk/
http://youtu.be/PlDbxogHPao
http://www.draculas.info/literature/bram_stoker_dracula/